Club news

NEW PRESSURE FROM THE LFP

11 Dec 2014Starting on next week there weeks be new rules to control the violence, while the LFP has started to denounce last weekend’s abusive language at the stadiums. Some of the measures have been criticized by the fans.

The incidents in Madrid are carrying new consequences and not necessary only affecting the groups of ultras. Last week there was a meeting between the LFP, the Spanish federation and the Spanish Sports Council, the objective was to establish rules and sanctions against violent acts, including verbal violence.

There will be a new book of rules that will be defined on next week and that should be approved by December 15. The new rules will not only trying to prevent violent acts inside or outside the stadium, but are also punishing the verbal abuse at the stadiums.

Among the sanctions are to fines, reduction of points, closure of stands and even the relegation of clubs that don’t help to eradicate violent groups. In order to control these situations the LFP is ready to make extreme measures, like controlling the access to the ultras sectors at the stadiums with fingerprints and facial recognition.

The LFP will also create an Intelligence Unit and there will be a director of games that will be responsible of reporting incidents of violence and verbal abuse. The LFP also announced the creation of a “manual of welcome and good practice for the fans”. The latter has been highly criticized for been considered too rigorous by some sectors.

But the LFP won’t wait until December 15 in order to impulse the first strong sanctions. On Wednesday they informed about five incidents in the Primera stadiums that will be denounced before the antiviolence committee. One of the cases occurred at the Riazor during the last game against Malaga CF. The report of the LFP is denouncing chants against president Tino Fernández: "Bastard Tino, get out of the Riazor", “Atleti shit” and "Tino, you should die" were the insults denounced by the LFP.

The club could be fined for this. The LFP has been criticized for this too, because these measures are based not in the new rules (which will be official since December 15) but in the rules existing since 2007. The problem is that the LFP never applied the rules until this moment, which is considered as high-handed decisions by some instances. The fans are also protesting as they considered as’ ridiculous’ trying to avoid any protest at the stadiums.